Passengers face Stagecoach fare hike but not from First

Stagecoach Yorkshire will put up its fares by a minimum of 10p from Sunday on services which use some of the busiest bus stations and interchanges in the county.

These include Sheffield, Hillsborough, Crystal Peaks Meadowhall, Dinnington, Swinton, Rotherham, Barnsley and Doncaster.

The company says it is having to increase its fares following a decision by South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive to impose a new charge for the use of bus stations which it claims will cost it around half a million pounds.

Stagecoach says a typical 10-minute frequency route with buses running 13 hours a day, six days a week will attract a new departure cost of about 13,000 per year.

From Sunday adult single fares for a journey that involves using one of the above bus facilities will go up by 10p. But where journeys involve using more than one bus station then the fare increase will be higher.

Passengers are being advised that if they get on or off before or after an interchange then the new fares will not apply. The firm is also looking at amending some of its services to avoid calling at bus stations.

But today the region’s biggest bus operator First said it did not have any plans to increase fares as a result of the charge.

Brandon Jones, business development director at First, said: “First have no plans to increase fares and in fact will absorb these costs so they are not passed onto our customers.

“I believe that in the main, passengers find Interchanges a useful part of their journey and First do not have any current plans to withdraw services out of these facilities as this would penalise our customers.”

But Paul Lynch, Stagecoach Yorkshire managing director, said: “It is extremely unfortunate that the SYPTE have decided to introduce this charge at a time when the company is working very hard indeed to encourage people to travel by bus. It is a great pity that we are having to pass on the bulk of these departure charges to our customers but the sums involved are too high for us to absorb.”